This is something I’ve been pondering since I found out about all of the changes coming to Hunter pets in tomorrow’s patch. I’m especially excited about getting 2 more stable slots. Since I’ll most likely never abandon my Grimtotem Spirit Guide, I really only have 2 stable slots at the moment. Having a few more to experiment with different pets will be huge.

In addition to my novelty ghost wolf (who actually is going to be quite viable soon), I also have a wind serpent and a gorilla. The wind serpent is the pet I use 100% of the time. The gorilla is sitting in my stable waiting to make the jump to level 65 when the patch hits. I got really excited about the change to Thunderstomp, so I had to rush back to Un’Goro crater and re-tame this guy.

The gorilla was one of my favorite pets, but the 1min cd on Thunderstomp and lack of a focus dump caused me to abandon him in favor of something else. I went Marksman for a few weeks and needed a Scorpid, so the ape got the boot. I’m very pleased now that I’ll have MONGO at my side once again. This guy’s going to be my pocket pally, err… pocket tank I mean. 😉

On the other hand, I’m pretty bummed about the change to Lightning Breath. 10 second cooldown..?! Well, at least they’ll have another focus dump skill in Bite. Still, I’m going to miss the constant spamming of Lightning Breath with 2/2 Go for the Throat and 36% crit. I’m also on the fence about wind serpents being a Cunning pet, as opposed to Ferocity. Some of the other pet skills in the Cunning family appear to offer better utility for PvP, which is what I’d primarily use him for. Again, I guess it just boils down to testing and more testing.

I suppose if LB scales well with RAP, then it could still be a worthwhile pet for BM due to the 7 second CD. LB hits well over 95% of the time since it can’t be dodged, blocked or parried, but only resisted. Plus, it’s ranged too which is great for being able to rob Warriors of their charge or blast a target while rooted. Hopefully I’ll be able to still have room in the stable for TROGDOR. I’d be pretty sad if I had to put him out to pasture in favor of a more useful pet.

The change to Furious Howl has me all giddy. Ever since I started playing Hunter, the wolf was the pet I wanted. Deathmaw was my favorite pet before TBC. When Blizzard decided to normalize pet attack speeds I had to let the poor boy go. My wolf will most likely become my primary pet for raids and parties.

As for what to tame next… The pets that I’m most anxious to try are the Moth and Hyena. Serenity Dust looks interesting, as does Tendon Rip for PvP. What’s really cool now is Hunters will have a lot of variety and more utility with these new pet skills. In arena for instance, we’ll be able to use a pet which utilizes a skill that fills in a weakness for that team or boosts a strength.

I really don’t see myself putting the 51st point into the BM tree if I decide to stay BM. That 1 point seems better used elsewhere and the Exotic Pets don’t really blow my skirt up. However, I may very well go 51pts into BM next month for WotLK. It looks like leveling with a Rhino could be pretty fun. 😀

It’s great that each and every pet will now have its own unique skill. It’ll be nice to see all of the different wildlife instead of a zillion cats and scorpids running around.